In front of you, eight stone giants hold up the façade. The Milanese call them «omenoni», the big men. They represent defeated barbarians and were carved by Antonio Abondio. But the real character of this house is its owner.

1An artist with a past

Leone Leoni, a goldsmith and sculptor from Arezzo, worked for the papal mint in the 1530s. There he was accused of counterfeiting by Pope Paul III's jeweller, Pellegrino di Leuti. Leoni attacked him and was convicted; the sentence, which included cutting off a hand, was commuted to rowing in the galleys. A year later the admiral Andrea Doria secured his release. In 1542 he settled in Milan as engraver to the imperial mint and became sculptor to Charles V and Philip II.

His temper did not mellow: his biographers say he tried to murder Orazio, Titian's son, who was staying with him in Milan.

The frieze under the eaves shows Calumny being torn apart by lions: the sculptor's message to anyone who spoke ill of him.

2A palace-museum

Leoni remodelled the house around 1565 and filled it with art and casts of ancient sculpture; Vasari even mentions a cast of the equestrian Marcus Aurelius. His son Pompeo gathered many of Leonardo's papers into what we now call the Codex Atlanticus. Leone died in Milan in 1590.

3What to look for

  • The eight giants, each one different, with weary faces.
  • The lion frieze, a play on the owner's surname.
  • The central doorway, with the house's old number.
Close-up of the stone giants holding up the façade of the Casa degli Omenoni
The «omenoni», defeated barbarians carved by Antonio Abondio.

Documented

Leone Leoni remodelled the house around 1565; the giant figures are by Antonio Abondio; Leoni was sentenced to the galleys and freed through Andrea Doria.

Oral tradition

The attempted murder of Titian's son comes from biographical accounts and has no secure date.

Sources and credits

Giorgio Vasari, «Lives of the Artists» (1568 ed.), life of Leone Leoni; Lombardia Beni Culturali, Casa degli Omenoni record; Walter Cupperi (ed.), «Leone Leoni tra Lombardia e Spagna» (2012).

Photos:

  • Façade of the Casa degli Omenoni with its stone giants: Paolobon140, CC BY-SA 4.0.
  • Close-up of the stone giants holding up the façade of the Casa degli Omenoni: Yair Haklai, CC BY-SA 3.0.

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